Taking Stock--2010

What's on the needles:

one colorwork sweater for Sophia
one brioche stitch vest for Pete
one pair of mittens for Dante
one pair of socks for me, I think
one shawl for me
swatch for new design

What's on deck:
mittens for Sophia and Fintan
hats for Sophia, Dante, and Fintan
cardigan jacket for me
raglan sweaters for Dante, Fintan, and Gavyn
socks for Lucy
lots of socks
a scarf,
a stole
a circular shawl

What I have knit this year:
14 shawls/scarves
20 pairs socks
4 sweaters
8 hats (3 were crocheted, actually)
3 pair mittens
1 pair mitts

Projects I have in publication from this year
already published:

2 shawls

in press:
1 scarf
1 sweater

Design projects on deck
scarf/stole
vest
sweater--cardigan jacket
sweater--cabled pullover (Sophia is knitting the prototype)
Stole using Estonian stitches. This one is already swatched--it's awesome.

Techniques I've learned:
brioche stitch
two-color brioche stitch
blind cast on
Norwegian cast on
spinning on a spindle and on a wheel
double knitting
an awesome technique for writing up patterns in multiple sizes so that it's easy to check all the numbers.
how to knit a ruffle

What I have given up:

posting my projects on Ravelry--too much time and effort involved for every little project. I'll essentially post my big projects when they're finished and my designs (if I continue to pursue publication)

posting frequently on Seasons of Lace. This makes me sad, but I just have so little to show with so much other knitting going on. I still need to work on this one.

swapping on Ravelry--spiritually draining

Next technical challenges:

learn to design an Entrelac stole that I have pictured in my head. I've named it already, and I love it, I just have to learn how to knit it.

Design a much more intricate lace shawl/stole

Percy and kid knits

Okay, I'll admit these photos are not much better than the last, but look at that blue sky--that's not something we see much of in November. And of course, if you click on the photos to see them actual--huge--size, you can see much more detail.


The shawl is growing on me, but I am still bothered by that second pattern in the middle. it seems too large for the design, and there really is no transition between the three charts, so it's a bit abrupt to me. But that's only looking at it close up. From a distance it looks pretty dramatic.
Here's the first of four sets for the kids: I did the smallest set first, for the three-year-old. I knit them actual stockings each year. We fill them on Christmas Eve and the children empty them and then wear them all winter inside their boots. I love it!
This is my first successful project made from my own handspun. My husband took our 9-year-old son to Gettysburg for a week for a birthday present. While they hiked the battlefields for four days, I spun some roving from the Yates farm in southern Vermont. I should have been working, but I had three kids to care for, so I put that off. The six-year-old wanted to learn to spin, so he played with me, and I decided to knit something up for him with the yarn. I finished the hat just after they returned, so it was a little vacation prize for the kid who stayed home. Well, one of them, anyway.

Percy preblock, blocking

I cast off Percy late last night. I ran out of the sea silk, so I stopped after row 31 of the edging chart, and joined some Gaia Lace in cobblestone mazes for the purl back row and bind-off. I love the look actually.



I look forward to weaving in those ends and trying to get some nice shots. We're supposed to have sun for a day or so, so it looks like the chances are good. I think these photos give a sense of the color, but it is just so much lovelier in person.--Thalassa Sea silk in Korrigan, from Gaia's Colours. Total yardage about 750.

Aster Nyx Available now

At long last, the project I started nearly two years ago is available as a pattern from the Sanguine Gryphon, one of my favorite dyers. I just love the fabulous fibers and gorgeous colors. they require me to be creative.


So, here is Aster Nyx, which was released along with the Sanguine Gryphon's Fall 2010 Steampunk line of patterns. The great black and white photos fit in with that idea very well, and they show off the details of the pattern very well.
The color photos show off the subtlety of the yarn. This large size, about 34" deep by 68 " wide, I knit in Gaia Lace, an incredibly soft and lovely cashmere silk blend. What a luxury. Two skeins is enough for the large size, and it is large. This colorway is Eye of the Devil.

NOTE: thanks to Troy, for the comment below. The little square in the chart does indeed represent a sk2p. I submitted the chart with a left leaning triangle for the symbol, and was unaware that it had been changed in the chart. The corresponding change was not made in the legend, but I have contacted Sanguine Gryphon to ask that the change be made in the pattern. I do apologise for any inconvenience.






A lovely friend on Ravelry swapped with me for the first version of this shawl, then called Starry Night. She also took photos of her knitting friends modeling it. This is the smaller size, which is about 30" deep by 60" wide, but which can really stretch widthwise when worn, which I love, because I tend to wear these things as scarves more often than not. I knit this first version in 1 skein of Sanguine Gryphon's Little Traveller, in Pantanal. this is a light fingering weight yarn, and is just lovely to work with. It's a nice size shawl for a single skein of yarn (580 yards).

Aster Nyx

Yesterday I finished two huge projects--one an editing project, one a knitting project. The knitting was a surprise project I undertook a few weeks ago to be sure we had a shawl that could photograph well for the release of my pattern, Aster Nyx. Today I took it off the blocking board, and my daughter photographed it on me. I think she did pretty well. I tried to get a few "artsy" shots too. I wonder if anyone can identify the plants the shawl is hanging on.




Noe the yard stick, included to show how much the shawl grew in blocking. I blocked at a radius of 34", but you can see in the photos that when worn the width gets wider and the depth shorter. So It's 72-74" wide and 30-32 inches deep when worn. Flexible!


I love the center star shape, and someday want to knit this as a circular shawl.

Bright Arrows Stole pattern now available

After a three-month exclusivity period, I'm glad to say that the pattern for the Bright Arrows Stole is now available for sale on Ravelry, and I'm going to try to set up a direct link here. The stole is a fairly easy knit, but interesting, with left twist cables running the length of the stole and lateral braids separating the body from the edging. It is worked from the center out.

The pattern requires just under 100 yards of 2-ply laceweight. It is charted, but also has written instructions. I have decided to charge $6.00, to help cover my expenses, including the tech editor.
The Ravelry page for my pattern shop is here. You'll find more information about the stole on the pattern page and on this earlier post.

Helena's sweater, Morgan's hat

This is a swatch for a skirt I'm designing in Sanguine Gryphon's Skinny Bugga. The actual skirt will be a different color, yet to be determined, but I'm looking forward to finishing this pattern. It is so much fun to knit, and the yarn is just scrumptious.
Helena's sweater. My own design, knit in Malabrigo worsted in Black Forest.
A lovely yarn to work with, and I do love designing things myself. It's fun to see how they come out, if a bit nervewracking. I hope this will fit. I used several techniques that were new to me for this project: a lovely new way to work a beautiful selvedge, a sewn cast-off, and short-row set-in sleeves worked from the top down.

I crocheted a black "cloche" hat for another friend, who wanted a big bright flower for decoration. She specifically asked for purple, so there is a purple flower represented, but when I took out my Leisure Arts "Crocheted Embellishments" book, there were too many fun designs and too much lovely leftover yarn to choose just one, so here is the hat with several flowers. I actually only made two of the flowers. My daughter made the rest. She is fearless. And she loves yarn.

Bright Arrows

I started swatching for this stole soon after Christmas, and began knitting on the first of the year. This is knit in 900 yards of Pales merino lace from Gaia's Colour. It's a fun and easy knit. I wrote the pattern for the Imbolc installment of the Shabbats yarn/fibre club.

If you go to the web site you can read about Brigid, the goddess whose name means Bright Arrows. I tried to incorporate some of the ideas in that description into the design. There are a couple of fun touches, including a cable that is easy to do without a needle and a set of three Vikkel Braids separating the main body from the edging. It was such a fun process. And I know I would not have come up with this design had it not been for that information. The yarn was telling me something else, but when I read about Brigid everything fell into place.

Here's an Ishbel I finished recently. The photo doesn't show off the yarn at all, I'm afraid. It's Wollmeise 100% merino sock in Admiral, a nice dark dark blue that leans to black. This turned out to be a nice sized shawl. I worked the large size stockinette section, then the lace section for the small size.

Here's the hat Sophia made for me for Christmas. I gave her some graph paper and she came up with her own chart and knit from that. It's the same pattern as the Danish Earflap hat I posted about a few weeks ago. She did a great job, and the hat is so warm, I wear it all the time. More pictures below.
And here's the blanket the kids and I made for their grandma. Sophia did most of the crocheting around the edges of the diamonds and joining, and I did the edging around the outside. I wove most of the diamonds, Sophia wove a few, and the kids all needle felted designs on the diamonds. This was such a fun project!